The grading procedure for this course says that the three exams will each count 30% of your course grade and the homeworks will count the remaining 10%. (There was one Quiz, which will be calculated as part of your homework grade.)
You have the option of writing a paper for extra credit in the course. The amount of extra credit you will receive depends on a number of factors, but I guarantee that submitting a paper can only improve your course average (or leave it unchanged). Here's how it works: Your course average will be calculated in the usual way (as described in the previous paragraph), giving you a score between 0 and 100 as your "unadjusted course average." If you don't submit a paper, your unadjusted course average will be your final course average. If you do submit a paper, it will be graded on a 100 point scale. Your unadjusted course average will be multiplied by 0.95 to give your "reduced course average," and 15% of your paper grade will be added to that to give your "adjusted course average," limited to a maximum value of 100. If your adjusted course average is less than your unadjusted course average, your unadjusted course average will be your final course average. Otherwise, your final course average will be your adjusted course average.
To give you a more concrete idea of how much the paper can be worth to you, the following table shows your final average given various combinations of unadjusted averages and paper grades.
| Unadjusted Average |
Reduced Average |
Paper Grade | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 100 | ||
| 90 | 85.5 | 91.5 | 93.0 | 94.5 | 96.0 | 97.5 | 99.0 | 100 |
| 80 | 76.0 | 82.0 | 83.5 | 85.0 | 86.5 | 88.0 | 89.5 | 91.0 |
| 70 | 66.5 | 72.5 | 74.0 | 75.5 | 77.0 | 78.5 | 80.0 | 81.5 |
| 65 | 61.8 | 67.8 | 69.3 | 70.8 | 72.3 | 73.8 | 75.3 | 76.8 |
| 60 | 57.0 | 63.0 | 64.5 | 66.0 | 67.5 | 69.0 | 70.5 | 71.0 |
| 50 | 47.5 | 53.5 | 55.0 | 56.5 | 58.0 | 59.5 | 61.0 | 62.5 |
So it's definitely worth working on this, especially if your work has been in the 60's or low 70's and you hope to get a C in the course so you can use it for the CS major. For example, if your course average is 65 and you get a 75 on the paper, you can still get a C in the course.
In case you aren't familiar with it, Queens College has a standard set of rules for translating course averages into course letter grades:
| Average | <60 | 60-66 | 67-69 | 70-72 | 73-76 | 77-79 | 80-82 | 83-86 | 87-89 | 90-92 | 93-96 | 97-100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade | F | D | D+ | C- | C | C+ | B- | B | B+ | A- | A | A+ |
I am free to calculate your course average any way I want to, so long as I use the same algorithm for everyone in the course. But once your average is computed, I have no flexibilty in assigning letter grades. So it's up to you to produce the numbers that let me give you the grade that you want!
The exact topic for your paper is up to you, but it has to be on something related to the course: processor, memory, or I/O architecture. I've mentioned the topic, "Dual-core CPUs" in class, but you do not have to pick that topic. If you aren't sure whether your idea for a topic is okay, ask me.
The paper is to be about 5 pages long. Don't bother to hand in something that's less than three pages, and the upper limit is strictly set at 10 pages. Use a word processor, single space, and use a font size of 10 to 12 points.
You may submit either an OpenOffice (.sxw) file or a Microsoft Word (.doc) file. Other file formats might be acceptable, but contact me in advance if you want to use a different format. I'll need to be sure my word processors can open your format.
Your paper is to be based on research you have done. Most of your sources will probably be from the Internet, but books and articles are especially good. But do not plagarize! All of the writing is to be in your own words, with the sources of the ideas cited carefully. Here's an example of what I mean:
Some sources say that fribble is good because it makes the CPU go faster [3], but others feel that the speed improvement is far outweighed by the increased demands fribbling makes on the battery, resulting in heavier and hotter systems [2][6]. However, the coolness associated with fribbled systems far outweighs the weight and heat factors.
In this example, the numbers in [square brackets] are references to the publications or web pages where you found the information. The last sentence is an example of where you have gone beyond what any or your sources said and are adding your own ideas.
You may submit one rough draft of your paper for me to review before May 20. I will comment on it and make suggestions that you can incorporate in the final version, which will be due by Midnight May 29. There will be no extensions or incompletes.
Send your paper to me as an email attachment by the due date.
Start by thinking about what you want to write about. Look for sources of information. In addition to Google, look at manufacturer's web sites such as Intel, AMD, and IBM. There are also several web sites that provide tutorial material and technology surveys that are very good, such as Ars Technica, Ace's Hardware, and Tom's Hardware. Also, the Queens College Library has a subscription to Safari Books that lets you read many technical books online for free. You have to be on campus or use the QC Proxy Server to access the subscription; check the library web site for more information on using the proxy server. Or call the OCT help desk at 718-997-4444.
Next, decide what you want to say in your paper. Are you going to explain how something works? Or perhaps you are going to survey what the current state of the art is with respect to some technology. A third possibility is that you are going to do a review of the history of some aspect of computer architecture, and a fourth possibility would be to provide an annotated bibliography related to some aspect of computer architecture. Your paper should fall into one of those four categories.
Create an Outline Outline your paper before you start writing anything. There should be an introduction, a body, and a summary. The introduction should tell what the paper is going to be about and should tell how the remainder of the paper is structured. This part of the paper will normally not include any citations of your research sources. The body will consist of a number of sections, each of which is coherent by itself; the sections should be in a logical sequence and should tell whatever "story" you decided you want to tell (see previous paragraph). This is the part where you cite various sources of information that you are used. The summary, like the introduction, is your own material and will not include any citations. The introduction, each section, and the summary can all be as little as one paragraph each, and none of them should be as long as two pages. (A paragraph has to have more than one sentence.)
Separate Content from Formatting Write your entire paper using your word processor's "Normal" style. Instead of formatting the headings by marking them up with bold, italics, etc., use your word processor's "Heading 1,", "Heading 2," etc. styles instead. Then format the styles if you want to tweak the appearance of the document.
Use your top-level heading style to put a title for your paper at the beginning. This style should be boldface and centered, possibly a little larger than the rest of the text in the paper. Put your name directly under the title (also centered), also boldface, but using a smaller font than the title. Start the Introduction, each section, and the Summary with the name of the section using a style that makes them boldface and left-justified. These headings may use a larger font than the rest of the paper, but should be a little smaller than the title font. At the end of Put a list of references that you cited in the body of your paper in a separate section following the Summary. Use the word "References" as the name of this section. The references are to be a numbered list (so you can cite them by putting the numbers in square brackets in the body of the paper); each reference should give the author's name, the title of the work, and enough information to let a user find the item. For example:
[1] Patterson, D. and Hennessy, J. Computer Organization and Design. Morgan Kaufmann, 2004.
[2] Jon Stokes. IDF Roundup. http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/cpu/IDF-2005.ars
Here's a summary of the structure of your paper:
Title
Author
Introduction
Section 1 (use meaningful name)
Section 2
Section ...
Summary
References
Your paper will be graded on technical content (40%), writing style and structure (40%), and document mechanics (20%).